Objectives Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) is an autoimmune disease, and the gut microbiota has become a new therapeutic target. Herbal medicine (HM) has shown good efficacy in the clinical treatment of IBD; however, the synergistic actions of the dominant chemicals in HM decoctions are unclear. Methods In this study, we explored whether the complicated interconnections between HM and the gut microbiota could allow crosstalk between HM ingredients. Saponins and polysaccharides, i.e., the dominant chemicals in the Codonopsis pilosula Nannf (CPN) decoction, were investigated in a dextran sulfate sodium- (DSS-) induced mouse model. Bacterial 16S rRNA sequencing analyzed the change of gut microbiota structure and diversity. Gas chromatography (GC) determined the content of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) in feces. ELISA detected the expression of proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines associated with TH17/Treg balance. UPLC-QTOF-MS technology combined with PKsolver software analyzed the absorption of the highest exposure for monomeric compounds of CPN saponins in serum. The results indicated that CPN polysaccharides showed prebiotic-like effects in mice with DSS-induced colitis by simultaneously stimulating the growth of three important probiotics, i.e., Bifidobacterium spp., Lactobacillus spp., and Akkermansia spp., and inhibiting the growth of pathogenic bacteria, including Desulfovibrio spp., Alistipes spp., and Helicobacter spp. Moreover, CPN polysaccharides improved intestinal metabolism, enhanced the production of short-chain fatty acids, upregulated the expression of anti-inflammatory cytokines and downregulated the secretion of proinflammatory cytokines correlated with Th17/Treg balance, promoted the absorption of certain CPN saponins in the serum, and stimulated recovery of the holistic gut microbiota. Conclusion CPN polysaccharides have the good prebiotic properties and shown good application prospects in the prevention and treatment of acute colitis. These findings provide insights into the specific bacteria responsible for active, inactive biotransformation of HM ingredients and those that are altered by HM administration.

This study examined the relationship between the high‐fat, high‐sugar diet (HFHSD) and trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS) induced mouse colitis, the therapeutic effect of alpha‐linolenic acid (ALA) on mouse colitis, and the relationship between HFHSD and hyperlipidemia. We also examined the possible underlying mechanisms behind their interactions. Female BABL/c mice were fed with HFHSD for the 9 weeks. At the same time, ALA treatment (150 or 300 mg/kg) was administered on a daily basis. At the end of the 9 weeks, experimental colitis was induced by the intra‐colonic administration of TNBS. Body weight, spleen weight, disease activity index (DAI), histological changes, T‐cell‐related cytokine level, and lipid profiles were measured after treatment. TNBS induced severe clinical manifestations of colitis and histological damage. Low‐ALA (150 mg/kg) administration profoundly ameliorated TNBS‐induced clinical manifestations, body weight loss, spleen weight loss, and histological damage. On the contrary, the high‐ALA (300 mg/kg) administration did not ameliorate colitis and even exacerbated the symptoms. HFHSD consumption assisted TNBS in changing IL‐12, IFN‐γ, IL‐2, and IL‐17A in the liver. As expected, these changes were recovered through low‐ALA. In addition, HFHSD had a significant impact on the total cholesterol (TC), high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL‐C), and triglyceride (TG), which related to the increased risk of hyperlipidemia. In summation, HFHSD exacerbated the TNBS‐induced colitis via the Th1/Th17 pathway. The Low‐ALA (150 mg/kg) exhibited protective effects against the TNBS‐induced colitis via the Th1/Th2/Th17 pathway.

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Porous ultrathin carbon-encapsulated FeS2@C nanooctahedra synthesized by a facile solvothermal and carbon-coating-annealing-pickling strategy exhibit a superior performance for sodium-ion storage.

Flaxseed cake contains cyanogenic glucosides, which can be metabolized into hydrocyanic acid in an animal's body, leading to asphyxia poisoning in cells. Beta-glucosidase is highly efficient in degrading cyanogenic glucosides. The Cattle may have β-glucosidase-producing strains in the intestinal tract after eating small amounts of flaxseed cake for a long time. This study aimed to isolate of a strain from cow dung that produces β-glucosidase with high activity and can significantly reduce the amount of cyanogenic glucosides. We used cow dung as the microflora source and an esculin agar as the selective medium. After screening with 0.05% esculin and 0.01% ferric citrate, we isolated 5 strains producing high amounts of β-glucosidase. In vitro flaxseed cake fermentation was fermented by these 5 strains, in which the strain M-2 exerted the best effect ( P < 0.05). The strain M-2 was identified as Lichtheimia ramosa and used as the fermentation strain to optimize the fermentation parameters by a single factor analysis and orthogonal experimental design. The optimum condition was as follows: inoculum size 3%, water content 60%, time 144 h, and temperature 32 °C. Under this condition, the removal rate of cyanogenic glucosides reached 89%, and crude protein increment reached 44%. These results provided a theoretical basis for the removal of cyanogenic glucosides in flaxseed and the comprehensive utilization of flaxseed cake.

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Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is usually considered to be more frequent in Western countries, but now a recent increase in the incidence and prevalence has been observed in China. Chinese herbal medicine as the main example of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is widely used by Chinese patients. However, the underlying mechanism of herbal medicine in alleviating IBD is still covered.The gut microbiome plays a key role in which has spurred the development of novel therapeutics aimed at restoring microbial community structure. So, probiotic represents another widely used CAM in treating IBD. Saccharomyces boulardii has showed great beneficial effect on diarrhea, but it is rarely used in IBD.In this study, we aim to evaluate the efficacy and elucidate the mechanisms of four potential CAM drugs named S. boulardii, SJZT, Dangshen [Codonopsis pilosula (French.) Nannf] polysaccharide or S. boulardii in combination with Dangshen polysaccharide during treatment with dextran sulphate sodium (DSS)-induced mice colitis. The gut microbiome of mice before and post colitis treatments were performed by 16S rRNA-based microbiome analysis. All four drugs profoundly inhibited weight loss, colon shortening, and ameliorated histological damage as well as DSS-induced dysbiosis in mice. Beneficial bacteria-especially short chain fatty acid (SCFA)-producing genera were remarkably enriched in the treated mice. Roseburia, Anaerovorax and Lactobacillus were selectively enriched by S. boulardii, while Butyrivibrio, Quinella and Anaerotruncus were selectively enriched by SJZT. Most notably, Dangshen polysaccharide selectively enriched Bifidobacterium, Arthrobacter, Akkermansia, Anaerovorax, Roseburia, Prevotella, Dialister, Megamonas, Faecalibacterium and Subdoligranulum. S. boulardii, Sijunzi decoction, and its main component, Dangshen polysaccharide, are effective in alleviating DSS-induced colitis. Furthermore, Dangshen polysaccharide is a powerful prebiotic that selectively promotes probiotic growth, especially SCFA-producing bacteria. These findings suggest that modulating the gut microbiome may be the common mechanism whereby these drugs improve colonic health.This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License OJCAM.MS.ID.000503.